Old Glory
Rottman Ripper
Grilled Birds were reduced to ten men very early, and looked in trouble until an action-packed midgame saw trainee midfielder Rottman will the team to a six-goal lead. The Orchard side were untried as they were given a bye over the disbanded LoS MeRenGuES Fc in the first round, and the entirely local team survived a few nervous minutes in a vanilla 4-4-2.
In the eighth minute
Ulf Hjortlind attempted a solo run which was broken up by 30 year-old midfielder Jordan Houlihan. Hjortlind was determinded to win the ball back by fair means or foul, and sent Jordan crashing to the grass. Quite ironically the Hoggers' free kick was too soft and hunted down by Noor Yadah, who flicked it on to
Jon Andrea Rottman. The Swiss midfielder thumped it past Khairil bin Abu Bakar, the opposition goalie and their best player, but helpless this day.
Hjortlind's rough tackle was surpassed in the 12th minute by Peter Magunsson, who executed a woefully mistimed sliding challenge on Tajana Taneja, a second-generation Singaporean Japanese. As the seven thousand strong crowd booed their disapproval, the referee flashed the red card at the Swede over his protestations. Glory Hoggers tightened up after that incident, and did not let Grilled have an easy time of it.
On the half-hour, Glory Hoggers stole the show as Houlihan rolled back the years to strike at Öhmo's net from just over the midway line and caught Öhmo napping, seconds after Pakpao was close to extending the lead with a flashy diving header which Khairil parried. Grilled were not going to stand for that and put the Hoggers behind again through
Ulf Hjortlind, who somehow took the ball past a crowded defence.
Ola Martinsson settled the supporters' hearts by racking up a respectable two-goal lead before half-time as he concentrated and unleashed a trademark free-kick.
He was to repeat it two minutes after the game resumed, as his second strike flew straight as an arrow from a close position. Glory Hoggers appeared to be deflated by their turn of fortune, and
Milen Kolesov added a fifth as he was given enough time to wind up for a shot on a floated pass from Rottman. Khairil made his feelings known to the static defence, and captain Art Payne fell back from attack to bolster the backline.
Grilled were controlling the match despite being a man down, and a casual observer would not have been hinted at the fact as Grilled stroked the ball around with authority. Rottman adopted a free role in the middle as he left the middle to Aznan and Au-Yong, who were more than sufficient. Switching over to Magunsson's abandoned right flank, Rottman put on a display of simple, elegant dribbling to earn his first career hattrick.
